The embodiments described herein relate to drilling fluid additives.
In drilling operations, a drilling fluid is implemented to cool the drill bit and cake the sides of the wellbore to mitigate caving in until a liner or cement casing is put in place. Moreover, the weight of the drilling fluid mitigates formation fluids (e.g., oil, gas, or water) from infiltrating into the wellbore during drilling.
Drilling fluids are typically complex fluids with several components (drilling fluid additives) that may be in a solid powder form or a liquid additive form. Drilling fluids are often precisely formulated taking into consideration several factors including, for example, the lithology of the formation, the formation pore pressure, and the drilling operational parameters (e.g., the rate of penetration and the angle of drilling). Variations in the concentration of drilling fluid additives can decrease the efficiency of the drilling operation and cause downhole problems. For example, if the drilling fluid is prepared with too high of a viscosity, the energy required to pump the fluid and trip the drill string may increase. In some instances, if the viscosity is too high, especially after incorporating drilling cuttings, the drilling fluid may become unpumpable and costly remedial operations may be needed to resume drilling fluid circulation. In another example, with too low of a viscosity, the drilling fluid may not effectively remove cuttings from the wellbore, which may cause the viscosity of the drilling fluid near the drill bit to be high, which may lead to cessation of drilling fluid circulation.